Within Congress, the actions of each individual member may be observed, through their actions and daily duties on the house floor, within committee and through other public mediums the voice and actions of most Members of Congress have been well documented. Through the creations of public means of observation like CSPAN and other media news networks, the everyday observation of the actions and the functions of Congress may more easily be recognized. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the representative from the 18th District of Florida is a representative that like many of her colleagues has used the influences of CSPAN within the United States Congress to announce her views on issues of great importance to her constituents. To more thoroughly identify the influence of speeches given by Members of Congress, an analytical view of documented speeches given by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen upon the house floor, and other speeches within committee and though press conferences will be observed.
In Congress where public opinion plays a strong influence upon each individual topic, each member must become involved in the functions of the body if they are to be looked to as productive within Congress. This idea of public opinion is specifically influential in the House of Representatives where elections held every two years force members to constantly campaign inorder to gain reelection. Therefore, since the House of Representatives is the closer representative based body to the constituents in Congress, the influence of acting on issues for which are either important or influential to constituents allows for Members of Congress to become more in touch with their constituents and allows them to gain popularity within there districts. “One way a member gains latitude is to earn the trust of constituents. Political scientist Richard Fenno observes that trust is earned only over time, as a members constituents come to see him or her as qualified, as a person who identifies and empathizes with them, and as someone who can defend his or her actions in Washington credibly.” (Smith pg 91) The need for Members of Congress to institute legislation or policies that allow for them to gain popularity within their districts is a necessity if they expect to establish goals allows them to more easily establish their goals in other areas of their congressional careers and if they expect to be reelected within there districts.
For Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the importance of congressional reelection has been constant throughout her tenure in Congress and this may be observed in her dedication to traveling to and from her district, these trips allow her to stay in touch with her district and also through her advocacy within the House of Representatives for issues that are important to her district. As demonstrated in Table 1, the number of speeches given by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen within the House of Representatives floor since her election in the year of 1989 has steadily increased. In the year of 1989, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen participated in only four documented videos upon the House floor, totaling to only fifteen minutes of actual airtime on CSPAN. By 2009, the CSPAN Video Library reported that Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen spoke on the House floor a total of sixty different days on a variety of different topics for over eight hours of total video airtime.
The increase in the number of days for which Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has spoken on the house floor since her first years in Congress has been largely influenced by her growth in overall influence within Congress. This growth in seniority has allowed Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen to more willingly speak on issues that fit her personal political agenda and the needs of her district and has lead for her to take more time to conduct speeches upon the house floor. For “most members share the perspective of most constituents on important issues. This connection between legislators and their constituents is perhaps the most important force in congressional politics. It originates in the process by which legislators are selected. Voters tend to favor candidates whose views are close to their own.” (Smith pg 105) Representative Ros-Lehtinen as the first Cuban American and Hispanic woman elected to Congress is largely capable of relating to the majority of her constituency many of whom happen to be of Cuban American or of Hispanic backgrounds. Her backgrounds within her community for which she served previously as a state senator have allowed her to continue to appeal too many of her constituents through her consistent advocation on issues that affect the everyday lives of her constituents and her district at a national level. Her continued advocacy for issues like unemployment, and her commitments to education and health care have allowed Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen to avoid the protectionist phase of a congressional career that many Members of Congress encounter following multiple years of service in Congress. Jacobsin refers to the expansionist and protectionists phases that Members of Congress encounter in there in congressional career’s and explains an expansionist phase being “where members devoted a great deal of time and energy to building up their base of regular supporters.” “The protectionist phase would include Members of Congress who work to maintain the support they have built up over the years but no longer attempt to add to it.” (Jacobsin pg 52) Although Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has served as the longest serving woman currently in Congress she has made many attempts to avoid becoming a inside the Washington beltway politician, instead deciding to return to the district on an continuous basis to first hand encounter the many issues that affect her district. It is the repeated trips to her district and events including those of beach clean ups and community initiatives that have assisted Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen in achieving continued success in reelections the last of which in 2008 CNN.com reported she received over 58 percent of the vote.
While serving a very internationally diverse community Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has made a commitment to foreign affairs allowing her to become the highest ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, this role has enabled her to become a face for the republican party on foreign affairs issues. As featured in Table 2 the majority of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen’s speeches have throughout her career been largely focused on foreign affairs initiatives. Although many videos from the first few years of her career in Congress have been unidentified the overall numbers of documented videos similar to Video 1 in support for initiatives for foreign affairs have made her a widely popular champion of foreign affairs among Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
Video 1-
Members of Congress like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida conduct speeches on the House floor on an almost daily basis, due to the beliefs of many members that when they are speaking on the floor they are directly communicating with constituents. As depicted in Table 1, the increase in the overall number of speeches given by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen increased dramatically from the years of the 103rd Congress where she spoke on the house floor on only sixteen different days, ranking 340th among all Members of the House. The number of days in which Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen would speak upon the House floor by the 107th Congress would increase to one hundred and one days, ranking her fifth among members of the House of Representatives. Similarly, the increase in the number of speeches given on foreign policy issues by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen increased from 4 in the year of 1984 to 84 by the year of 2009.
The increase in the overall presence of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen upon the House floor shows the overall growth in seniority that the she obtained during this period and also shows the interest that she shares with many of her colleagues within Congress to use the many media outlets of Congress to attract voters and to interact with constituents. Speeches made upon the House floor dedicated to commemorating an event, congratulating a specific constituent or having to do with events that directly involve the district of Miami and the Florida Keys largely increased throughout Congresswoman’s Ros-Lehtinen’s tenure within Congress. Along with speeches involving her beliefs on foreign policy ideals, speeches concerning her constituency have made up the majority of speeches for which Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has allocated time to speak about on the House floor. Within Congress “Many members feel a strong obligation to look out for the interests of their home constituents even when doing so has little effect on their re-election prospects or when there is little connection between their constituent’s needs and their own policy interests.” (Smith pg 93) Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen’s actions as a delegate on behalf of the people of South Florida has allowed her advocate for women rights and sponsor legislation that most recently has honored the rights of women fighter pilots that fought in World War II. Actions like the sponsorship of legislation honoring members of the armed services, for which is a topic of great personal importance to her due to members of her family serving in the armed services allows her to honor both members of the armed series fro her home district but also allows her to work with members across the aisle allowing her to further establish ties with her colleagues. Examples of actions similar to these are found everyday throughout Congress and there are a essential part of a continuing effort that forces Members of Congress to communicate with their constituents, a failure to initiate actions on issues of importance for many members could ultimately lead to a defeat in the next election.
Video 2
Although much action occurs within Congress occurs upon the House floor the influence of Committees also influence a very strong part in the development of both policies and legislation within Congress. Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen throughout her tenure in Congress has made the influence of Committees a unique pat in her ability to influence the working of Congress. Throughout her career Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen she has served on the House Government and Oversight Committee, the House Budget Committee and most notably she serves as the Ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As ranking minority party member on an committee also has certain prerogatives. They include hiring and firing of minority staff aides; recommending minority party conferees; acting as the minority sides spokesperson to the press and media; influencing, depending on his or her relationship with the committee leader, the panels’ agenda of activities; and designating the minatory floor manager for legislation reported by the committee.” (Page 91 Oleszek) Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen’s influence within the House Foreign Affairs Committee as demonstrated in Video 3 illustrates her commitment to foreign affairs and shows in great detail the patterns for which she decides to speech upon issues, making foreign affairs issues of top priority to her own personal political agenda and the agenda of her colleagues.
Video 3
In conclusion, the influence of speeches given by Members of Congress upon the floor of the United States House of Representatives is a unique and many times essential way for which members of Congress look to communicate their beliefs to both their colleagues and their constituents. The formation of media services like CSPAN have forced members of Congress to accept issues of public opinion and have for many members like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida created a transition in the overall activity for which members of Congress use the House floor as a platform for which they can communicate with constituents. The large increase in the number of speeches given on the topics of constituent issues, foreign policy, health care and education, the economy and women’s rights shows the growth in influence and seniority that Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has achieved throughout her career in Congress. It is through the resources of CSPAN and other media outlets that Members of Congress are capable of communicating and establishing a bond with constituents that allows them to gain the confidence of voters allowing them to become reelected and establish polices that influence their own personal goals and the goals of their constituents.
Works Citied
Oleszek, Walter. “Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process” 7th Edition- Copyright 2007 CQ Press 2300 Street, NW, Suite 800. Washington D.C. 20037 page 91
Jacobson, Gary C. “The Politics of Congressional Elections” 7th Edition Copyright 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc. page 52
Smith, Steven and Roberts, Jason, and Vander Wielen Ryan. “The American Congress”-Sixth Edition copyright 2009 Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York. Pages- 91,93,105
CSPAN Website- all videos taken from the CSPAN Video Library- All data from charts also obtained from the CSPAN website- http://www.cspanvideo.org/ videoLibrary/congress. php? member=3206. All speeches and data found in Tables 1 and 2 was counted from the years from which they where give and then put into each individual category.- All Data is updated as of 4/9/2010
CNN Election Center 2008- http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/ results/individual /#mapHFL/H/18
Table 1- Individual Speeches of Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen
Data as of 4/9/2010 from CSPAN.com
Table 2- The Number of Floor Appearances by Ros-Lehtinen per each Congress
Data as of 4/9/2010 from CSPAN.com
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